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31.7.08

"I think bands should be paid for broadcast of their material because this goes directly to the band through publishing. Bands have never profited directly from the sale of their records as they are always paying off debts to do with making the record, videos, artwork and TV advertising. PRS has always been the artists friend. Bands make money from publishing, touring and merch. If the record does well, the rewards are considerable, but more often than not records do ‘alright’ and so PRS is what comes in to keep the wolves from the door."

One thing I knew about the centre of Bristol, but didn't really acknowledge was this little pool of concrete buildings/walkways that seems more private than it is. Leads onto Leonard Lane in one way, onto the edge of Broadmead in the other. Old Bristol vs post-WWII Bristol? Not being a fan of bridges, I felt uncomfortable - none of this feels as sturdy as it should be.

30.7.08

LOS ANGELES – A 13-year-old boy was charged with murder yesterday in the shooting death of his 8-year-old cousin in a gang-related attack in South Los Angeles.

Prosecutors alleged that the boy used a handgun to open fire July 23 into a crowd in the courtyard of an apartment building in an apparent gang retaliation shooting. The intended target was a male who was at the scene."

Design Sponge: Elevating the Mundane. Who thought sticking leftover rolls of wallpaper on your stairs could be so interesting?

Dan Kennedy looks at an issue that has been bothering me since I started accessing sites like Ogrish (now called Liveleak) and Rotten (both very NSFW): the censorship of graphic Iraq war photos. If you're one of those people that think anything near reality comes through your television screen (especially in the US, but also in the UK) when the news rolls in, you're being lied to. It is disturbing how the Western world continually demands to be sheltered from realities of the wars and death that we create, and will only accept sanitised bloodless Hollywood deaths as a compromise. This is why the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, Burma, Zimbabwe and beyond continue to suffer every day. You are a part of this, and you should be demanding the truth or seeking it out yourself. If you don't want to see the effects of a suicide bombing, ask yourself: what about the people who have no choice in the matter?

That is singlehandedly the best short film I've seen for a good 5 years. I recently burned through the entire first season of In Treatment, in which Mia Wasikowska played a suicidal teenager and ended up carrying a good portion of the show with her engrossing intensity. Girl's got testicular fortitude beyond even Ellen Page, so I am looking forward to her portrayal of Alice in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (even though I would rather see Guillermo del Toro attack that story). May she have a long and kick ass career.

27.7.08

"I told you if I rain, there'll be an eternal drizzle/woodwork strips being chipped to charred chisel/one verse shatter your spine and crush your spirit/no matter what, you still Window Shop for lyrics"

25.7.08

"As Obama toured the war zones trailed by U.S. network TV anchors, McCain ridiculed him from afar during a visit with former President George H.W. Bush at his summer home on the Kennebunk River about a mile from the Atlantic."

22.7.08

21.7.08

"Nose tombs are tombs that contain human noses that were severed from Koreans and brought back to Japan as trophies during the Japanese invasions of Korea in the late 16th century. War trophies were a part of Japanese tradition at the time and samurai warriors were often paid according to how many they collected.

17.7.08

"The Chinese had their own names for the alleys in Chinatown. The main streets, outside of Sacramento Street, were always known to the Chinese by their English names, the other streets, however, were all known by Chinese names. If you asked a Chinaman where an alley was and gave the American name, he would be unable to tell you, for he would not know. But if you gave him the Chinese name, he would know immediately. For instance, Sacramento Street was known as China Street—in Chinese as Tong Yen Guy. Ross Alley was originally settled by the Spanish, but when the Chinese came they crowded the Spaniards out. This alley was, therefore, given the name of Gow Louie Sun Hong, or old Spanish Alley. Spofford Alley was another alley from which the Spaniards were crowded out; this was called Sun Louie Sun Hong, or new Spanish Alley. Alongside the old First Baptist Church, on Washington below Stockton, was an alley, at the end of which was a stable for horses. The Chinese named this Mah Fong Hong, “stable alley.” A small alley off of Ross Alley was known as On New Hong, in other words, “urinating alley,” as the Chinese made it a regular urinating place." [from a Brief History of San Francisco's Chinatowns by Commissioner Jesse B. Cook]

And guess what? I can't for the life of me remember the name of this one. I am pretty sure it was a significant place too. I'll get back to you on that detail.

16.7.08

Seen this sticker in both San Francisco and Los Angeles now. Nice and neat, red/black/white - my favorite colour combination. They always seem to be put at waist level, which gives great potential for a good photograph as it catches more of the street than sky.

13.7.08

12.7.08

I have thoroughly enjoyed Radio Four's Reith Lectures this year. Called Chinese Vistas, they focus on China's place in the modern world. Of particular interest to me was the second, called "English Lessons", giving a short history of British-Chinese relations, which filled a few gaps in my knowledge and recommended further reading to boot!

The Washington Post talks to Chinese writers Ma Jian and Xiaolu Guo about Chinese politics: "There is a tradition of artists being servants of the state, part of the propaganda machine. State-sanctioned professional writers have adapted to this situation; the way they survive is to avoid politics or write historical books, and even there, corruption will be confined to the lower echelons. They have no freedom to talk about China as it really is."

Spreading the Word on the Street is an article by the SF Chronicle about an almost apocryphal figure on the homeless streets of Oakland, CA: "Sometimes there are 25 people to listen to Pannizzo's sermon, sometimes 50. The moment he arrives, the drinking and crack-smoking and petty shoving halt. Even the corner drug dealers stop what they're doing and watch, respectfully, from a distance."

7.7.08

"Poles were used as a practical means of passing over natural obstacles in places such as the marshy provinces of Friesland in The Netherlands, along the North Sea, and the great level of the Fens of Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk. The artificial draining of these marshes created a network of open drains or canals intersecting each other. In order to cross these without getting wet, while avoiding tedious roundabout journeys over bridges, a stack of jumping poles was kept at every house and used for vaulting over the canals. "